Monday, February 13, 2012

Slider Inn

I was really excited when Slider Inn opened last year...until I found out that they were a 21 and up establishment. Warren and I joked that it made no sense to sell tiny hamburgers and not let kids eat them. But more seriously I thought that the location--just down from Peabody Park--made it a perfect spot for families.

One night when I was without children and it was really late, some friends and I popped over for some food. Once inside I definitely got the bar vibe, and got over my little grudge. Soon Slider Inn became my late night go to place.

Then a couple of weeks ago I met my sister for a drink after work. Slider Inn looked a lot different in the daylight, and it turned out they wouldn't let anyone smoke inside until after 9pm. "Does that mean you guys allow kids now?" I asked. The bartender confirmed that kids could come in before 5pm.

So, Saturday after basketball, Warren and I took the kids over for lunch. Warren was a little wary of bringing them, so I went in and just made double sure it was ok.

We arrived around 1pm and there were several full tables, but none with kids. We grabbed a table and I noted that we had seen the people at the next table the night before at the Cove. They had clearly just woken up, unlike those of us with children.

The very sweet waitress did her best to talk us into a mimosa or a Bloody Mary, and eventually Warren relented. The kids and I ordered water, but the bartender came over and asked the monkeys if they liked lemonade. When they said, "Yes!" he brought them each a cup of their signature fresh squeezed lemonade that he just made. I thought that was a very nice touch and made us feel welcome. The monkeys declared it delicious. Jiro even gave me a sip.

Next we had to figure out what to order. The menu is pretty basic so it isn't too hard to decide.

Typically, Warren and I split the Original Memphis Sliders and some plain nachos, but he wanted to try the hot dog and I wanted to try some of the specialty sliders. I went with the "mix & match" option and ordered a Lowrider, Vegan Triple B, and a Veggae Reggae. We decided to let the kids each get an order of Originals, even though I doubted either could eat all three. We all chose fries as our side even though the waitress made all of our other options (potato salad, soup, salad) sound appealing. I was also very tempted by the special brunch bacon egg and cheese sliders, but I resisted.

While we waited for the food, Jiro actually watched the Louisville game on TV and commented on the defensive plays! What?

The food came out fast and Satchel was thrilled.

He did have a moment of ennui when he saw that they had cheese on them, but decided to suck it up. Jiro likes cheese, so that wasn't a problem. Neither noticed the bourbon mayo hiding under the patty, so that was a blessing.

My sliders looked very fetching on the plate...er pizza pan. (Must be a new trend...BGR does the same.)

Though I had tried most of them before, I had never done it sober or in the daylight. I have to say that the Lowrider was definitely missing the Sriracha aoili and was therefore rather boring. Also the chicken was microscopic. The Veggae Reggae is probably the dumbest slider ever invented. It's basically a burger with everything, except the meat. Not sure what I was thinking when I ordered that. Thankfully the Vegan Triple B was yummy and Jiro let me have one of his originals.

Warren's hot dog had bacon on it, so it had to be good!

The dog was nitrate free and indeed very tasty. I think the best part was that the bun was actually toasted. (If they toasted the buns on the sliders they would be even better.)

He ate it all, and we all snarfed down the fries like nobody's business. I asked everyone if they knew the secret to the fries but they couldn't guess. When I said, "Sugar!" Warren did not believe me. "How do you know?" he asked. "Because I did a story on it," I said. Then he sheepishly said, "I can't read Commercial Appeal stories on my phone." I replied, "It was in the Flyer. Busted!" (You can read it here.)

When all was said and done, Satchel ate two sliders and some fries, and Jiro ate one slider and all of his fries and some of mine. He was going to eat a second slider, but he didn't like the way the patty looked. "I think someone took a bite out of it," he said. At $9.99 a pop, I might force the monkeys to share an order next time.

We got a to go container, which was not styrofoam. Score!

I should note that the kids' waters were also styrofoam free.

I thought we were pretty much done, but when the waitress asked, "Who has room for dessert?" Jiro said, "I do!" So, we ordered a slice of strawberry cake. Look how pretty!

Our resident strawberry lover was thrilled.

It was a very nice ending to a nice meal. Our total was $48.74, which was pretty steep for lunch, but considering we had a Bloody Mary and dessert I can't complain. Plus, we had two free lemonades!

Before leaving, Jiro and checked out the restrooms. Clean, eco-friendly (everything is automatic), but no changing table.

I think when it warms up, there will be lots of families on the patio. (It converts to open air.)

2 comments:

Did the smoking law change? I thought once you went smoking, you were 21 and up all the time. You couldn't do non-smoking hours. Alot of restaurants complained because the law was all or nothing. This is the second place (Celtic Crossing's the other) I have heard is doing this.